Improvement in brush-handles



0. JENNESS.

RUSH-HANDLE.

' NI'I'ED STATES PATEN'I'OFFIGE, I

ORLANDO Jnnnnss, OF-BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BRUSH-HANDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 183,305, dated October 17, 1876; application filed July 10, 1876.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ORLANDO JENNESS, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Brush-Handle, of which the following is a specification:

The nature of my invention is that of a brush with a handle, connectedwith .it by a combination of simple devices, by which the face of a brush can be adjusted at pleasure at right angles, or at any desirable angle with the handle and the object is to furnish a brush readily adaptable for differing uses, and also more lasting in wear.

Figure 1 is an end view of my device. Fig. 2 is a side View of the same.

In the drawings, A, Figs. 1 and 2, represents the brush, with its bristles projecting below. B, Figs. 1 and 2, is the handle. 0, Figs. 1 and 2, is a flat piece of metal, (though I sometimes use wood,) called the adjustingplate, which is in the form of a semicircle, (see Fig. 1,) attached to the top of the surface of the brush, from which it proceeds upward at a right angle by means of a base-piece, (seen in Fig. 2,) which base-piece is screwed to the top of the brush. The peripheral portion or edge of the adjusting-plate O is seen in Fig. 1, to be provided with notches (eight or ten, more or less) or slots, instead of which I sometimes use holes, and at D, Figs. 1 and 2, is seen a rivet or pivot passing through the adjusting-plate O, and holding to it the lower end of the handle B, which handle, being bifurcated by a slot at that end, passes on each- .side of the adjusting-plate, the handle playing loosely on this pivot D. E, Figs. 1 and 2, is the catch, being a thin flat piece of metal lying edgewise, as seen in Fig. 1, in a narrow slot made in the handle B, and borne there by a rivet or pivot, F, Fig. 2, passed through it near the middle, and through the body of that part of the handle B. G, Figs. 1 and 2, is the thumb-piece, being a flat piece of metal attached to (being cast upon) the upper end of the catch E, and beneath this is the catchspring H, Fig. 2, which is a spiral spring lying in a circular aperture in the handle B, which aperture is an enlargement of the slot in which the catch E is placed, and impinging at its outer end on the lower surface of the thumb-piece G, being kept in place by a small projection or teat from the thumb-piece, all as seen in Fig. 2. The end of the catch E, lying in the slot of the handle, enters into any one of the notches in the adjusting-plate O.

For the ordinary sweeping of a room the device is arranged, not as seen in the drawing, with the handle at right angles to the brush, but inclined at an angle of twenty-two degrees, or thereabout. To produce this inclination it is necessary only to press the thumb or finger upon the thumb piece G, which touches the handle before the spring is too much compressed, (this arrangement protecting the spring) when the other end of the catch E, being raised and withdrawn from a slot in the adjusting-plate, the brush is, with the other hand, adjusted at the desired angle, and the thumb-piece being released the catchspring H throws itup, and the other end of the catch enters into a slot, and the device is ready for use.

One important advantage of my device with sweeping-brushes is that, While continued use of a brush, whose handle is permanently fastened to it atan angle, gives a set or permanent inclination to the stock or bristles, or whatever is substituted therefor, thus, when the brush is worn away at one side, preventing its effectual use, with my device the handle may be instantaneously altered in its inclination from one side to the other of the brush, thus obviating the set, and, in effect, doubling the time of use of the brush, and hence doubling the intrinsic value of the same. 5

Further, when it is required to sweep beneath an object, as a sofa, a whatnot, or other article of furniture,vthe .brush is, in the manner above described, in a moment arranged with the axis of its handle parallel with the plane of the top of the brush, and the brushing beneath the sofa is readily effected. A touch upon the thumb-piece and a single motion of the other hand restores the handle t its original inclination.

The facility given by this device to the operation of washing windows, of cleaning stoves, of brushing the clothes, and in numerous other household uses, needs only to be adverted to.

I do not claim an arrangement with a catchwith the catch E and its thumb-piece G and bolt inserted in the handle; nor do I claim spring H, all when constructed and arranged any device provided with a plate partially substantially as described. toothed, and the brush rotating sidewise; but

I claim--- ORLANDO JENNESS. In brushes, the combination of the brush A, Witnesses: the handle B, and the adjusting-plate 0, when LEMUEL P. JENKS,

toothed on the top and both sides or edges, JEROME DAVIS. 

